Marine pilot from North Attleborough dies in crash

The family of Captain Kyle R. VanDeGiesen, 29, a Marine helicopter pilot, confirmed yesterday that he died in one of the crashes.

The family said they did not know what occurred and released a statement saying, “It is with sadness today that we learned that our son, brother, and husband, Marine Captain Kyle VanDeGiesen, was killed today in the line of duty in Afghanistan.’’

The statement continued, “He was a 1998 graduate of North Attleborough High School, a 2002 graduate of Saint Anselm College, and was currently stationed at Camp Pendleton in San Diego, Calif. He fulfilled his lifelong dream of becoming a Marine helicopter pilot, protecting his family and serving his country.’’

His wife, Megan, is expecting their first son soon, and the couple have a daughter, Avery, who celebrated her first birthday in the spring while her father was in Afghanistan.

VanDeGiesen also leaves his parents, Ruth Ann and Calvin VanDeGiesen; his brothers, Ryan and Christian; and his sister, Caitlin.

Funeral arrangements were pending.

VanDeGiesen was a star football quarterback, and became part of the first Saint Anselm College varsity football team in decades. He was a Boston Globe All-Scholastic in 1997.

But even in his days of sports, he had long talked of his plan to become a pilot, said Peter Cordella, chairman of the criminal justice department at Saint Anselm, who was his teacher and knew him through the football program.

He said VanDeGiesen was the type of student that faculty, staff, and students alike remember years after knowing him.

“There are some students who really stand out: You remember them; you wonder what they were doing,’’ said Cordella. “Clearly, he’s someone you remember. He had a sense of purpose. He knew exactly what he wanted to do, and what he wanted to do was go in the military and become a pilot. He knew that from Day One.’’

The military has released little information about yesterday’s crashes, except to say they were not a result of hostile fire.

The deadliest crash occurred in the western part of Afghanistan. A helicopter went down after leaving the scene of a firefight, killing 10 Americans on board, including three Drug Enforcement Administration agents. The agents routinely patrol with US forces in Afghanistan, the world’s largest producer of opium, which is the key ingredient of heroin and a major source of funding for insurgents.

The helicopter was on an operation that targeted insurgents involved in drug trafficking when the firefight began. A military spokeswoman did not give a cause of the crash, but said hostile fire was unlikely because the troops were not receiving fire when the helicopter took off.

Taliban fighters said they had shot down a helicopter in the northwestern part of the country, but it was not clear if they were referring to the same incident, and their statement could not be independently verified.

It was the first time a DEA agent has died since the agency began operations in Afghanistan in 2005.

A second crash occurred when two US Marine helicopters, a UH-1 and an AH-1 Cobra, collided in flight in the southern province of Helmand, killing four American troops and wounding two more. It was not known yesterday which crash VanDeGiesen was involved in. According to a published report, he piloted Cobra helicopters.

The crashes made yesterday the biggest single-day loss of lives since June 28, 2005, when 19 US troops died, including 16 on an MH-47 Chinook helicopter shot down by insurgents.

President Obama spoke about the crashes yesterday before Navy and Marine Corps personnel at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Fla., saying, “They gave their lives to protect ours,’’ and that they were “doing their duty and they were doing this nation proud.’’

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. Milton Valencia can be reached at mvalencia@globe.com.